Portable client devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, fitness monitors, and household internet of things (IoT) devices are providing increasing levels of functionality to support modern life. However, taking full advantage of the functionality provided by such devices often require that these devices be connected to a high-speed connection. While cellular connections offer the advantage of a greater range of coverage, the cost of mobile broadband makes connecting such devices to a WiFi or wireless local area network (WLAN) the only real alternative for users seeking to stream multimedia content using such devices.
A client device might encounter hundreds of WiFi networks as a user of the client device goes about the user's day. Since WiFi networks are often secured by a wireless key or password, the user may temporarily lose his or WiFi connection when the user's client device encounters a new or unknown WiFi access point. Even when the user has the credentials to access such a network, the user may opt not to join the network in order to avoid having to manually enter a password or other identifying information.
Therefore, a solution is needed in order to dynamically provision access points encountered by a user's client device on the fly without intervention from the user. In addition, such a solution should provide added security benefits such as conditioning access to certain WiFi networks based on a location or identity of the user. Moreover, such a solution should also provide network administrators the flexibility to condition services or bandwidth allocations on the type of usage or the identity of the user.